Research Interests

I am interested in the behavioural ecology of animals, their vocal communication, and particularly how it relates to their distribution in space. Some animals have habitat requirements that are scarce in the environment, or spread out, so that the animals have to move around to meet their needs. Populations become more or less isolated and aspects of their behaviour - such as their vocalisations - may diverge. Examples of isolated habitats include boulder piles for hyraxes, and breeding pools for salamanders.

Specifically, I am looking at how the patterns of vocalisations of the hyrax vary with their location, and whether nearby animals "learn" particular songs from their neighbours.

I am also interested in the mathematical modelling of the effect of environmental change on the ecology of such species, and to predict the outcome of environmental disturbance. Man-made environmental changes can destroy these micro-habitats, or multiply them. How does this affect the migratory or foraging behaviour of these animals, and is it likely to cause conservation problems (for endangered species) or unwanted proliferation (for pest species)?